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INTRODUCING: ESC

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ESC

ESC are a Melbourne four-piece making music in the great Australian tradition of depraved pub rock spliced with post-punk  – a sound conceived in the Old Country by expats like the Birthday Party. Singer Max Sheldrake cites Rowland S Howard as an influence, and there’s definitely a whiff of Crime and the City Solution about ESC.

The band’s latest single, ‘Atomic Shadow’, is both menacing and danceable, with a tight rhythm section and harmonies that lighten Sheldrake’s terse vocal (‘Do you wanna fight? Then come and fight’). Their mate Mick Bell has made them a video, which features the band jamming in silhouette. The blokes all seem to have lost their shirts (hawt), and bassist Bonnie Knight is paying a rad, translucent-bodied guitar that I now fiercely covet.

ESC’s debut EP was recorded, mixed and mastered by Nick Hoare, who’s also worked with Absolute Boys – another forward-thinking local post-punk outfit. The band is launching it at the Tote this Friday. Make sure you get there early, because there are going to be free copies of the EP on the door. Supports will be Strangers From Now On, an amazing bunch of Melbourne musicians led by a little guy with a lot of presence and a great head of hair (we know cos they played our warehouse party last month), and newcomers Yum Yum Cult. Sheldrake told Beat, “I get a bit angry and let it out a lot” during live shows, so perhaps steer clear of the front rows if you’re the nervous type.

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LOOK: Scenic – ‘Shockwave’

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Polite Perth four-piece Scenic have dumped their new track ‘Shockwave’, taken from their forthcoming EP Shockwaves, out in August through Future Classic, with a montage of VHS video complete with sun-drenched babes and random explosions. The track does sound like Miami Horror’s ‘Sometimes’ but that’s hardly a bad thing.

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LISTEN: Holy Holy – ‘Impossible Like You’

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Holy Holy is singer/songwriter Timothy Carroll from Brisbane and guitarist/producer Oscar Dawson from Melbourne. Their record was pieced together in Berlin, as you do, then recorded with Matt Redlich back in Aus. Redlich has knocked out very accomplished sounds with Emma Louise, Hungry Kids of Hungary, and Holy Holy’s current touring buddies The Trouble With Templeton.

‘Impossible Like You’ is easy to like. It’s catchy. Has a great breakdown and a vintage 70’s period sound that doesn’t define the track but rather compliments the vocal and story telling talents of Timothy Carroll. To say that ‘Impossible Like You’ is well constructed would be a gross understatement. This is perfect modern rock and roll for the masses.

Holy Holy are touring with Ainslie Wills:

Sun 11th Aug – Queen Street Mall, Brisbane (daytime show)

Tues 13th of Aug – Black Bear Lodge, Brisbane

Thur 15th Aug – High Tea, Sydney

Fri 16th Aug – News Agency, Sydney

22nd Aug – Workers Club, Melbourne

And supporting The Trouble With Templeton:

Thur 29th Aug – The Spotted Cow, Toowoomba

Fri 30th Aug – The Zoo, Brisbane

 

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SEQUENCE: Naysayer & Gilsun

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                                                                IMG_0051 IMG_0096 IMG_0117                                                                        N&G                                                                                                                                                naysayer & gilsun _ whothehell 2

 

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 Photos by Alan Weedon

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MAP July 2013

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Click the play button icon to listen to individual songs, right-click on the song title to download an mp3, or grab a zip file of the full 29-track compilation through Ge.tt here.

ARGENTINA: Zonaindie
San Dimas – Generación Espontánea

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San Dimas is an instrumental indie-rock band from Rosario, one of Argentina’s largest and most cultural cities. Generación Espontánea is one of the best tracks from their latest album, La Música y Las Cosas, and it was also part of a compilation released in 2012 by Planeta X, their label.

AUSTRALIA: Who The Bloody Hell Are They?
Kins – Aimless

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Originally a solo project for frontman Thom Savage, Kins made the move from Melbourne to Brighton in the UK two years ago and have been working hard at their craft since. Kin’s new track Aimless is just that – it’s both a dreamy saunter and an angular dance. Thom’s distinct voice remains the subtle hero of this track. While this shares the unconvention of Local Natives, Alt-J, perhaps even Dappled Cities at their synth-tuned best, comparisons don’t apply to Kins. One of Australia’s best exports and most underrated bands.

AUSTRIA: Walzerkönig
DAWA – Some Things Are Different

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Singer John Dawa and the band that formed around him stand for honest and unpretentious folk music. Two voices, a cello, a cajón and an acoustic guitar are all the ingredients they need. Their frequent live performances with a hippie touch (flower garlands on mic stands, that sort of thing) have earned them a constantly growing fanbase. Some Things Are Different is the opener of their full-length debut This Should Work.

BRAZIL: Meio Desligado
Banda Uó – O Gosto Amargo Do Perfume

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Banda Uó are like a big kitsch joke, a sense of fun that is manifest through their fearless use of pop references with Brazilian technobrega (which can be translated as something like “cheesy techno”). In this song, they use Two Door Cinema Club’s Something Good Can Work as ‘inspiration’ for messing up.

CANADA: Quick Before It Melts
Air Marshal Landing – Move With You

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Air Marshal Landing are three friends who make music that sounds greater than the sum of its parts. Together since 2009, they’ve recently put the finishing touches on their first long-player, You Used To Be Me, which is ballsy enough to mix genres and is unapologetic in its catchiness.

CHILE: Super 45
Kinética – Halo

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Emiliana Araya is Kinética and she’s returning this year with II, her second album, this time helped by Milton Mahan and Pablo Muñoz (De Janeiros) in the production side. In addition to her usual electronic beats, Kinética explores pop and soul from an experimental prism, adding new elements to her intimate songs. Halo is a MAP exclusive download and a preview of her new record, which features collaborations from Marcos Meza and Fakuta.

COLOMBIA: El Parlante Amarillo
El Ombligo – Trinidadla

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El Ombligo has gone largely unnoticed in the Colombian music scene. So that’s why we want to emphasize this union of many musicians, local and abroad, from Germany to Mexico, under the command of Colombian bass player Santiago Botero. They are doing what they call a new folklore, starting from Andrés Landeros’ cumbia to 60s free jazz. The fascinating Trinidadla is taken from their 2012 album Canción Psicotropica y Jaleo.

DENMARK: All Scandinavian
Bodebrixen – The Wave

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Following up on 2012’s acclaimed third full-length, Out Of Options, Bodebrixen aka Andreas Brixen and Aske Bode have released a great first synthpop taste of an as-yet-untitled EP which will be released later this year. The Wave is a summery MAP exclusive download.

(More bands after the jump…)
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EXPAT: Splashh

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SPLASHH

It’s been ages since I’ve seen a scuzzy international band that haven’t severely bored me. That’s more out of bias more than anything, but it still holds some minor truth. Splashh are excluded though. I caught one of their shows at Ding Dong in Melbourne a few weeks ago and it was so great. It was the first time in months I’ve seen a Melbourne crowd look remotely enthusiastic about anything…(god forbid, jump around to shoegaze bands).

Splashh are based in London, but that doesn’t really count since half of the band are from these parts anyway. The band’s guitarist Toto Vivian is from Byron Bay, while frontman Sasha Coleman (Brain Slaves) and drummer Jacob Moore (The Checks) are from New Zealand. Partial patriotism and the nabbing them as ‘one-of-our-own’ thing is totally fine when you’re from Byron and named Toto anyway. 

The band were recently picked to support The Rolling Stones at Hyde Park last week too. Splashh only formed last year, so things have travelled really fast. After constant gigging and a number of single releases in the UK, including a casette-only release on Jen Long’s excellent Kissability label, the guys released their debut record Comfort a few weeks ago. It’s a super rad record – essential for light listening, and more so if you’re predisposed to the whole league of Queensland bands who worship Wavves by default.

Splashh took liberty of sending us a photo set of their best ‘in-transit’ faces on their recent Aus tour which you can view below…

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Comfort is out now through Breakaway Recordings.

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INTRODUCING: The Good Sports

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The Good Sports

The Good Sports are part of a new pack of great young Brisbane bands, also including Johnny and The Fembots (who we’ve previously featured) and Pool Shop who’ve been making it worthwhile to turn up to gigs early for the past six months.

This track from The Good Sports has a very Help-era Thee Oh See’s vibe, deranged reverb laden boy/girl vocals and a couple of manic guitar solos thrown in for good measure. ‘Early Riser’ might be a little reminiscent of a lot of other bands going around right now Brisbane’s strong garage scene, but it’ll be interesting to watch the band as they come into their own a little more.

This is a sure cool track, but make sure you also check out their other single ‘Shootin’ Hoops’ or their crunchy cover of The Troggs’ ‘With A Girl Like You’ too.

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